Britain will reopen its embassy in Kyiv, Boris Johnson said, more than two months after he was deported from the Ukrainian capital before the Russian invasion.
Following the closure of the embassy in February, the United Kingdom maintained a diplomatic presence in Ukraine but did not provide personal consular assistance.
At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FCDO) said the embassy was being relocated temporarily and staff were working from the embassy’s office in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
However, the embassy is expected to reopen next week after Russian forces were pushed out of the Kyiv region in the face of Ukrainian resistance. A team of returning diplomats will include Melinda Simmons, the British ambassador.
The prime minister’s announcement at a press conference in India comes after he met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during an unannounced visit to Kyiv earlier this month.
“President Zelensky’s extraordinary strength and success in resisting Russian forces in Kyiv means I can announce that we will reopen our embassy in the Ukrainian capital very soon next week,” Johnson said at a news conference in New Delhi.
“I want to pay tribute to those British diplomats who remained in the region during this period.
More than a dozen European countries, as well as the European Union, have already reopened their missions in Kyiv. These include Italy, Spain and France, which reopened on April 16th. French Ambassador Etienne de Poncins said: “It was obviously a very exciting moment for me and my colleagues. We left Kyiv seven weeks ago. He said they did not know if they would ever return.
The Czechs returned on April 13, announcing on Twitter: “This is one of the many steps we are taking to show our support for Ukraine.”
Zelenski praised countries whose missions have returned to the capital, saying they were sending a “clear signal to the aggressor.”
The United States is considering reopening its embassy in Kyiv.
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